ROBINSON... seeing an absolute growth in the industry

WESTERN BUREAU -- The island's recovering Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector is well on the way to meeting government's target of providing 2,500 jobs during this fiscal year, according to Julian Robinson, investment promotions manager at Jampro.

A number of IT companies, he said, started businesses in Montego Bay and Kingston over the last few months, while others are now in the process of expanding.

"In Kingston there is a company now that is looking at taking upwards of 70,000 square feet of space and Factories Corporation (of Jamaica) has just built a 50,000 square-foot building in Naggo Head, Portmore and there are other spaces coming on stream," Robinson explained.

"...So what we are seeing is an absolute growth in the industry and we anticipate that it will continue in the next couple of months," he added during Friday's press briefing in Montego Bay.

During the briefing, details were provided about the February 8-11, 2004 Contact and Strategic Sourcing Summit of the Americas, which will be staged in the parish of St James.

Industry officials say that over the past two years, the contact centre industry has seen a resurgence, with the establishment of over 3,000 new seats and the attraction of client business from several Fortune 500 companies.

Robinson said in the coming months, three recently established companies will be officially launched -- however he did not name the companies.

The Jampro official also noted that in recent times, a number of overseas IT companies, particularly those based in North America, have shown an interest in setting up business in Jamaica, as a result of the island's competitive advantage.

His optimism was in stark contrast to recent concerns that the industry would be adversely affected by a move to legally ban telemarketers from phoning about 50 million Americans.

Next February's summit is part of an annual series of global business conferences, which attract preferred corporate attention, and is organised by Canadian-based firm, The Summit Circuit.

The conference is expected to attract economic focus to Jamaica by providing an opportunity for networking, information sharing, forging new relationships and alliances with leading contact centre companies who will be participating in the event.

Robinson told reporters that the meeting is expected to provide significant benefit to the country, particularly in highlighting the capabilities that now exist for call centres and other processing services.

"The conference will bring together 200 senior level executives from major call centres across the world and some of them may be looking at this region to either out-source or establish their own operations," Robinson said. "We think that them having the opportunity to be here in Jamaica will give them an insight into what capabilities exist here and probably speed up their decision-making process about locating in the island."

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